I got hold of some ATtiny85s without knowing what to use them for. I just liked the possibility.

I consider myself an electronics noob, but a careful one, and I must say that I don't like the more enthusiastic approach of my engineering friend. He calls it "Learning by Burning". I prefer to study, then ask those who could be considered knowledgeable...... and then burn something.

Back to what happened:

I downloaded the Attiny library, unzipped it and installed it as directed.I did likewise with the latest Arduino IDEHooked up the breadboard with the ATtiny according to http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=1695Hooked up the indicator LEDs according to the Arduino ISP sketchLoaded the Arduino ISP sketch to the Arduino (An UNO Rev 3)Mounted the "do not reset" capacitorSet ATtiny at 8MHz with "burn bootloader"( forgot to select "Programmer: Arduino as ISP"....... that took some time to figure out!)selected: Arduino as ISPUploaded a slightly adjusted "blink"

AND IT WORKED :%

Now I've loaded a reduced version of the morse beacon from http://brainwagon.org/2009/11/14/another-try-at-an-arduino-based-morse-beacon/ and it sits on my desk looking happy.I'd like to make a bike light blinking messages, and this leads me to the question:

Is it really that simple?Is all I have to do, to connect my LED and a resistor to the chosen output pin and ground, and my 4,5 V battery between "+" and ground?

It is too simple, there must be a catch!What have I forgotten, that will let out the magic smoke?

"You gotta fight -- for your right -- to party!"Don't react - Read."Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?"Hey, it's "bipolar transistor" or "junction transistor" - "BJT" is just stupid.

What you might do is make yourself a shield that has a socket for the ATtiny on it, along with the other connections necesary and then all you have to do is plug the chip in and mount it on your Arduino and program away. I made a board like that has sockets for an ATtiny2313/4313 and an ATMega328 328/P. I program my 2313s with the internal clock so the board needs nothing other than a couple capacitors to run the 2313, and it has a 16MHz resonator for the 328. If I added a jumper I could also program the 8 pin chips on the same board.

Very similar topic... I just did the same with a $3.00 ATMega328 (W/B'loader from Amazon) and the blink WITH delay sketch and I was amazed at my thoughts at my 'accomplishment' and my thoughts went back to 1958, I built my first crystal radio that year.. I was 12 years old. and nearly as excited then as now...

Bob

--> WA7EMS "The solution of every problem is another problem." -Johann Wolfgang von GoetheI do answer technical questions PM'd to me with whatever is in my clipboard

And this is for Tiny85s: http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,148155.0.html

Nice!

I put mine on a 9X5 piece of veroboard.(As soon as it was soldered, I realized that some things could have been made a bit smarter. I'll do that next time)It leaves me with access to all the pins, a very reasonable size..... and a craving for new things to put tinies in!

And this is for Tiny85s: http://arduino.cc/forum/index.php/topic,148155.0.html

Nice!I put mine on a 9X5 piece of veroboard.(As soon as it was soldered, I realized that some things could have been made a bit smarter. I'll do that next time)It leaves me with access to all the pins, a very reasonable size..... and a craving for new things to put tinies in!

My first ones looked something like that. Then I found some boards which are exactly six holes wide...that made things a lot neater (it's just right for a Tiny85+ISP pins+another chip). Finally I got fed up of soldering ISP pin headers to veroboard and made those PCBs.

No, I don't answer questions sent in private messages (but I do accept thank-you notes...)